Back in July 2020 as the country tried to recover from the first covid lockdown the government announced a stamp duty holiday up to £500,000 until 31st March 2021. This meant anyone completing a sale before this date below £500,000 would pay no stamp duty as long as they were selling and buying their primary residence.
As the end of March came closer the government decided to extend this holiday until 30th June 2021 up to £500,000 and 30th September up to £250,000.
The good news for first time buyers is that nationwide it is predicted that 80% of their purchases will still be stamp duty free even after the holiday ends. It is expected that first time buyers will still pay no stamp up to £300,000 as it was pre the pandemic. However, in the area that Aldreds covers nearly all first time buyers purchases are below the £300,000 threshold anyway.
If you are a first time buyer and looking to purchase your first house call us today to discuss your options.
As a mark of respect, we will be closing our offices at 2.30pm this Saturday, 17th April to observe the funeral of His Royal Highness, The Duke of Edinburgh.
An extraordinary man who has led an extraordinary life. May he rest in peace.
Across the areas that Aldreds cover there are literally thousands of ex local authority properties.
They often sit on good plots and offer generous accommodation at a slightly lower prices than properties built in the private sector.
Many of these properties were built in the 1950’s to cover the post war housing shortage.
However, in some areas the occupation of ex local authority properties can be restricted to people who are from that area so it is always best to check with the selling agent before viewing.
From North Suffolk to Broadland we have ex local authority properties available to buy.
A year after Estate Agents had to cease normal activities at the start of the first lock down it seems appropriate to look back over the last year.
As many of our key and critical workers were fighting the pandemic during lockdown one nearly all property sales and letting activity went in to hibernation. We continued to run our operations remotely, however, valuations, viewings etc had to cease and the majority of our fantastic team had to be placed on furlough.
Out of the blue in mid May it was announced that estate agents could return to work immediately. We had already put safe working procedures in place so were able to reopen quickly to deal with the pent up demand in the market.
June was an extremely busy month. Then in early July the stamp duty holiday was announced. This really turbo charged the housing market. Activity rocketed. Coupled with the challenges of operating safely this put us under a degree of pressure but our team stepped up and performed amazingly.
We saw some amazing activity levels through the autumn with offices hitting levels of sales consistently not seen since pre credit crunch days.
Estate agents were able to continue working safely through both lockdown two and the current lockdown.
With the extended stamp duty holiday and a more hopeful year in front of us the housing market is predicted to remain strong and robust.
Here is looking forward to a more stable and healthy rest of 2021!
